Quartet Meeting: Completion of Steps before Transferring Powers of Yemeni President

The Foreign Ministers of the Quartet meeting (United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) affirmed in the joint statement following Riyadh’s meeting on Monday that the powers of the Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi will not be transferred until parties commence to execute the security and political steps mentioned in the U.N. roadmap.

The statement added that the four ministers agreed that the U.N. suggestions that include a sequence to the security and political procedures represent a ground for a comprehensive agreement whose details will be discussed during negotiations and discussions.

In the statement, various parties were assured regarding some concerns that were previously expressed—it asserted not transferring the president’s powers and not implementing executive procedures before signing an overarching agreement.

“The ministers discussed the U.N. vision and suggestions to terminate the conflict in Yemen,” added the statement.

Convened parties urged the Yemeni government to return to negotiations that will mainly focus on the plan submitted by U.N. Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

The statement pointed out major items of the 23rd of October plan including: time sequence of political and security procedures, withdrawal from battlefronts, transferring presidential powers and resumption of consultations based on the Gulf initiative, outcomes of Yemeni national dialogue and the U.N. resolution 2216 plus other related resolutions.

All parties were urged by the four ministers to reach a prompt agreement and to work on reactivating April 10 Agreement on ceasing fire and hostile actions.